With two wins this week over larger schools, it was a success for the Open Door Patriots volleyball team.
After sweeping Lorain earlier in the week, the Patriots (2-0) swept Keystone (0-3) in their home opener on Aug. 26, 25-19, 25-20, 25-20.
“It’s really good, I wasn’t expecting to play how I did. We played really well as a team, too,” Open Door sophomore setter Ellie Pruitt said. “Keystone’s a really good team and I was really looking forward to this.”
Pruitt did a solid job in her setter spot with 19 assists, but she did it all for the Patriots. She contributed four kills and had a team-high five aces.
“It’s so fun, I love being creative on the court,” she said. “Being able to dump and do different serves feels so good. It’s one of the best feelings setting it and having great hitters. I was super proud of how everyone performed.”
Open Door has a core of four veteran players who are heavily relied on, but the young players showed out. Pruitt is one of them as a sophomore. Two more sophomores, Hannah Szunyogh and Julia Reaser get major playing time. Szunyogh led the Patriots in kills in the season opener, and Reaser had a team-high 14 digs.
Senior Rachel Faber had a soccer game and wasn’t able to play, so freshman Paige Pachinger stepped into the middle hitter role. She finished with six kills and provided a big presence at the net.
PHOTOS: Open Door vs. Keystone volleyball, Aug. 26, 2023
"Little Paige stepped right up and filled the shoes and went right on," Open Door coach Veronica Victor said. "It's funny, we have three seniors, one junior, and the rest of them are freshmen and sophomores. The future looks fun, doesn't it?"
The first set went back-and-forth for most of it, but Pachinger was a difference-maker with four of her six kills coming in this set. The veteran production was also there as senior Bianca Yakobchuk also recorded four kills. She finished with a game-high 10.
The Patriots had a two-point lead early, but scored the next three points following back-to-back aces from Grace Giesbrecht. Keystone came back and cut the deficit down to one following two kills from Callie Crabeels.
However, Open Door's strong serving came back into play once again. After Giesbrecht's two aces earlier, Pruitt had two aces in a row to help lead a 4-0 run. In total, the Patriots served up 13 aces. The 4-0 run was all they needed, as kills from Yakobchuk and Pachinger ended the set. It was fitting given how well both of them played in the set.
Using the momentum from how the first set ended, the Patriots raced to a 7-0 lead in the second set. Giesbrecht tallied two more aces, and Szunyogh got a kill in front of the net to force a Keystone timeout.
The Wildcats finally got on the board with a kill from Grace Hammonds, and that sparked a run from the visitors. They scored seven of the next nine points to cut the deficit down to 9-8. After a couple of Open Door miscues, Emma Bachman had a kill and an ace to pull Keystone within one.
Both teams kept trading points until the score was tied at 16-16, but Open Door broke through with another mini 3-0 run. The Patriots ended the set on a 5-1 run in total, capped off with a kill from Brooklyn Stafford-Crandall and back-to-back aces from Reaser.
Keystone is already a young team, and it was missing a couple of players in this one. A few Open Door runs, such as the 7-0 start, put the Wildcats in some tough spots.
"One of the hardest things with a young team is learning how to win," Keystone coach Jeff Schaef said. "They came back every time from those deficits, but then to close it out is the hard part."
Keystone got off to a 3-2 start with two kills from Kendal Crabeels, but the Patriots had another 5-0 run in them. The Wildcats stayed within a few points for most of the set, but that small run gave Open Door a big boost. Bachman had a huge set with four kills and an ace, but the Patriots answered with kills from Pruitt and Stafford-Crandall. With an emphatic kill, Yakobchuk picked up the final point to win it.
"Volleyball is a game of momentum, you either have it or you don't," Victor said. "You're making those runs when you do, and then when you don't, you're trying to minimize the other team. It's always nice to open the season with two wins."
Both teams host Wellington in their next games, as Open Door plays the Dukes on Aug. 28, and Keystone plays them on Aug. 29.
